Sweet Serenity

Within the last month my dear, sweet husband and I celebrated our 27th Wedding anniversary.  Twenty-seven wonderful years I have gotten to love and live with my best friend.  This year we went on an adventure.  We drove to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and rented a cabin in the Smokey Mountains. 

It was a bit scary for this mom who is struggling with letting go.  It was the first time that we had gone so far from home with Brittany actually being at home.  She had a friend stay with her all weekend, which made us feel better.  She was busy with one of her team fun nights too...so she was her typical busy self.  For us...we had just about 9 hours to unwind as we made our way to our cabin.  I will admit.  At the last moment I almost changed my mind.  I was nearly in tears when we left and so was Brittany but as the miles passed I began to relax and she stayed in her routine and I felt better when she was no longer alone. 

We are in this brand new phase of life.  Parents of an adult child.  Its HARD!!!  It is harder adjusting to this than anything I think I have ever had to adjust to.  The funny thing is...even though she is home, even though we are together everyday...it still kinda feels like we are going through the "empty nest" stage of our life.

Dennis and I had such fun as we had to find our cabin in the rain, in the dark, where we could see nothing but what was in our headlights.  We left later than we had thought and we got into construction traffic for about an hour so it was dark and I mean dark when we arrived.  Our cabin was located, literally in the tree tops.  We had a beautiful view.  We traveled some pretty curvy roads with drop offs on both sides of the road in the rain and in the dark.  It was interesting to see all that we passed by the next day as we ventured out to have a look around.  One of my most favorite memories and one I'll not soon forget was the sound of the water in the creeks as we passed by them.  There is nothing like the sound of rushing water coming out of the mountains over the rocks.  I would have loved to have been able to pull over and just sit by the water for a while.

All in all we had a blast!  We both agree that we have to get back to being a couple again.  There are times when she is out and we just, well, really don't know what to do with ourselves.  It's weird, I know.  But we are just so family focused that we have to give ourselves permission that it's okay for us to just be us again.  I am beginning to like this new stage.  It's fun.  We have had it all.  Eight years of newlywed bliss, Nineteen years of parenting, and now what do we even call this new stage of life.

I do know this, God chose the perfect man for me.  As we think back on the years we have had together we are both so thankful that all of our firsts are with each other.  He is still my love and my best friend.  No one makes me laugh as much as he does and when we are in sink with each other (did I spell that right?) there is nothing better.

So I am embracing this new stage in life with everything I have for as long as God allows.  Who knows what further adventures we'll get ourselves into.

Blessings!
Joyce Marie